Homegrown Happy Valley

Last year Homegrown volunteered at PASA’s Central PA Farm Tour.  Michele and I sat at Tait Farm all afternoon welcoming visitors, handing out information, answering questions, and eating Gemelli cookies from the farm store.  But this year I wanted to take the tour myself.  So with map and directions in hand, I loaded the car with drinks, snacks, husband, child, and a few members of my extended family.

We decided to start with Tait because it’s one of my favorite farms and the promise of basset hound puppies was a big draw for the toddlers in the backseat.  We strolled up to the farm tour booth to pay for our carload of people. The volunteer was out of passes (good news for PASA) so she took our info and told us to pay at the next farm.  After we stopped by the kennels and saw some of the most darling puppies roll, slide and snuggle we started our self-guided tour following the pink signs along the way.

We spied newly harvested garlic, different color lettuces starting to take root and a beautiful field of herbs.  As we made our way to check out the composting area I started to hear a few squeaks from our pint size locavores.  Granted it was sticky, but we had snacks, we had sunshine, we were outdoors … we were starting to meltdown. The kids were momentarily distracted by butterflies in the fields, caterpillars crawling across the road and trees that would eventually grace local homes decked for the holiday season. But, ultimately, such outdoor joys and the promise of more adventure (a farm that makes ice cream!?) couldn’t appease them.

So we split up. I continued my farm tour; my sister-in-law took some photos; and my husband took the girls back to the kennel for one last peek at the puppies.  When I emerged from the farm store armed with Gemelli cookies, my group had bailed on me.  Somewhere in between the field and the kennel my husband had mentioned the possibility of going to the pool instead, and the kids jumped.  No amount of cajoling could get my rowdy band to keep following me on my journey.

Long story short, my farm tour was over. My ideal day of visiting local farms was dashed by the whims of two small children and one large one.  I’m already looking forward to next year’s farm tour, but may go by myself.  Just like my experiences trying to promote and buy local, I realize that not everyone shares my passion for it.  Sometimes I have to go it alone.

P.S. PASA, the check’s in the mail. We never made it to the next farm … but I want to contribute to your wonderful event.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Events, Farm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.